The invention relates to a sun visor for vehicles having a sun visor body which can bend along its longitudinal extension, which can be pivoted out of a rest position into a use position, and which can be held in these positions. The sun visor body has at least one bearing, the bearing axis line of which extends along a longitudinal edge of the sun visor body in an arcuate line and in a plane lying between the rest position and the use position of the sun visor body. The sun visor body is pivotably mounted on the bodywork side of the vehicle and has two end regions being rotatably mounted on an associated shaft portion.
A sun visor of this type is known from German Unexamined Patent Application No. 24 26 398. The embodiments there have a positionally stable bearing axis line during the process of swinging the sun visor body. In addition to their rotatable mounting in the end regions, these embodiments rely on axial support at both ends. Between these axial support points, the flexible sun visor body is held in an arched bending position for the purpose of matching an arcuate form of an associated roof frame above the windshield of the vehicle.
It is because of the outwardly-directed resilient force resulting from the arching that the positional stability of the sun visor body in the two beyond-dead-center positions is provided.
If, when required, the sun visor body is to be swung out of its arched rest position into its use position, it must be transferred in the course of the pivoting process into a position in which it is arched in the opposite direction. Here, compressive loading in the central region of the sun visor body attains maximum values between the two beyond-dead-center positions.
Because of the work of deformation associated with a change in the operating position of the sun visor body, the appearance of the sun visor suffers considerably after only a short period of use, even when high-quality materials are used.
In addition, changing the operating position requires a considerable expenditure of force by the user.
Finally, the principle of operation of that known sun visor means that a very specific use position is automatically taken up by the sun visor body. Individual adaptation of the pivoting position of the sun visor body to the line of sight of the user is thus not possible.
For the above reasons, the object on which the instant invention is based is to further develop a sun visor of the general type for vehicles in such a way that it is possible to change the operating positions of the sun visor body with a small expenditure of force and that individual adjustment of the sun visor body can be carried out over a large pivoting range of use.
By having the sun visor body pivotably mounted on a curved through shaft and rotatably mounted to the end regions of the shaft, the visor body is guided so as to be rotatable and slideable in the direction of the transverse extension of the sun visor body by an intermediate bearing engaging bifurcated fashion around an associated longitudinal portion of the curved shaft. Also, the sun visor body is guided so as to be longitudinally displaceable on the shaft.
Thus, the sun visor body is transferable under forcible guidance by the bent shaft to opposite bending positions in the course of the swinging process. During this, the compressive forces acting on the sun visor body are relatively small, since during the reversal in bending, the sun visor body can pass through a straight, flat expanded intermediate position. However, this circumstance dictates a change in the sun visor body length surrounding the shaft. This length extension is taken into account by an axial displaceability of the said sun visor body on the shaft. The shaft must likewise have an excess length matched to the expanded position.
For reasons of weight, it is advantageous if the through shaft consists of a round tube.
A particularly compact construction of the sun visor results if the shaft runs in the cross-section of the sun visor body. Admittedly, the sun visor body must in this case be traversed by a slot.
This slot is preferably designed as a guide slot, and it can assume both the function of rotatable mounting at the ends and the function of intermediate mounting by a corresponding wall shape.
For the intermediate mounting of the shaft in the guide slot, the shaft must be supported at at least one bearing location on the walls of the slot. Alternatively, a plurality of bearing locations may be provided, distributed of course over the intermediate mounting zone.
Because the non-rotationally-symmetrical shape of the guide slot, a shell construction has been chosen for the latter. By virtue of molding the walls of the slot integrally onto a flexurally elastic supporting structure of the sun visor body, the number of joining operations during the production of the sun visor body can be minimized if a jointed connection has already been provided for the supporting structure.
The sun visor body can additionally be pivoted in front of a side window adjoining the windshield by pivoting of the curved shaft. This rotation can be resisted by a spring bias connection of the shaft to the roof of the vehicle. The curved shaft can be telescopic to allow for rearward shifting of the visor body when the visor is pivoted against a side window of the vehicle.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.